You searched for: “encroaching”
encroach (verb), encroaches; encroached; encroaching
1. To infringe or to take advantage of someone or a situation in an underhanded manner: Wiretapping encroaches on people's rights to privacy.
2. To make inroads, to invade, to take over: The desert is encroaching on the grassland.

The hedge of Dustin's neighbor is encroaching on his property.

The ocean is slowly encroaching on the shoreline.

3. Etymology: from Old French en-, "in" + crochier, "to hook"; literally to get a hook into something that belongs to another person.

The related French word croc [pronounced, CROW], "hook" doesn't go back to Latin but to Germanic origins and it is related to Old Norse krokr, "hook", and to English crook

To intrude or to trespass.
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To enter the rights of another person.
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This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group E (page 2)